Siegfried hansing



(No Model.)

S. HANSING. TONE SUSTAINING ATTACHMENT FOR PIANOS.

No; 474,990. Patented May 17, 1892.

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SIEGFRIED HANSING, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

TONE-SUSTAINING ATTACHMENT FOR PIANOS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,990, dated May 17, 1892.

Application filed February 10, 1892. Serial No. 421,052. (No model.)

To aZZ whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIEGFRIED HANSING, a citizen of Germany, and a resident of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tone-Sustaining Attachments for Piano-Fortes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the tone-sustaining devices for piano-fortes, and especially for thegrand and square pianofortes.

The invention consists in the combination of thesound-prod ucin g mechanism for a grand orsquare piano with hooks on the dampers and a swinging strip adapted to engage said hooks and hold them raised, thereby holding the dampers in raised position and sustaining the tones produced by the strings corresponding to the raised dampers.

The invention also consists in the construction and combination of parts and details, which will be fully described hereinafter, and finally pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical transverse sectional view of part of a piano-forte, taken in a plane parallel with the keys, parts being omitted and my improved tonesustaining attachment being shown. Figs. 2 and 3 are detail views of the tone sustaining attachments, showing the parts in different positions.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The key A is pivoted in the manner customary for grand pianos and acts on the jack B, that operates ahammer (not shown) in the usual manner. The dampers O are arranged above the strings D, and are each connected by a wire E with the jacks B in such a manner that they are raised before the string is struck and remain raised as long as the key is depressed. The dampers are of any wellknown or approved construction. From the upper end of each damper corresponding to a string the tone of which is to be sustained at certain times a hook-wire F or an analogous hook device or prong projects. The rail H is pivoted at H above the dampers C, so as to extend over the entire row of the same, which rail H is so weighted and so pivoted as to normally be in position. (Shownin Fig. 2.) Said rail is provided with a projecting strip J on its front end near its bottom edge,

the outer edge of said strip J being adjacent to the hook-prongs F on the dampers. The arm K projects from the rear of the pivoted rail H, and is connected by a wire L with the pedal-lever M, pivoted on the under side of the keyboard N, which pedal-lever M is connected by a rod 0 with the sustaining-pedal P. hen the rail H is in normal position, the free edge of the strip J is in such position that it can be cleared by the ends of the hook-prongs F, so as to permit the dampers O to rise and fall in the usual manner, as shown in Fig. 2. \Vhenever a tone or tones are to be sustained, the corresponding keys are depressed, whereby the corresponding dampers are raised, as are also the hookprongs F on the same, and then the sustaining-pedal is depressed, whereby the arm K of the rail H is moved downward and the strip H is swung upward and under the hookprongs F of those dampers that are raised, thereby raising said hook-prongs and dam pers slightly and locking said dampers in raised position, as shown in Fig. 3. As the said dampers cannot descend, tones produced by the corresponding strings are sustained. As soon as the pedal-lever is releasedthe rail II swings, under the action of its own weight, into the position shown in Fig. 2--that is, its normal positionthereby releasing the dam pers that were held in raised position and permitting them to descend. This attachment requires no change whatever in the tone-producing mechanism nor in the dampers, except the application of the hook-prongs F on said dampers.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent The combination of a tone-producing mechanism of a grand or square piano, with hooks on the dampers located above the strings, a weighted rail pivoted above the dampers and provided with a projecting strip forengaging the hooks on the dampers, and a pedal for operating said pivoted rail, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention Ihave signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIEGFRIED I-IANSING.

Witnesses:

OSCAR F. GUNZ, CHARLES SCHROEDER. 

